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With credit scoring such a major part of the mortgage application and approval process, it's no wonder experts have a lot of opinions on how to alter those standards to improve the home loan market. Now, a federal agency - which controls the nation's two largest mortgage-backing entities - is considering a potentially seismic shift in credit scoring standards that is a point of some contention.

One of the biggest issues in the housing sector today is the large share of the market taken up by first-time buyers who face unique challenges. Perhaps the biggest of these is the limited inventory of lower-priced starter homes for sale, but these shoppers will likely also face difficulties in the mortgage process - often because they simply don't understand the best practices to get a good deal on a home loan today.

Tax reform has been a big idea on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., for some time, and it now seems as though lawmakers are working toward proposals that may be able to pass both houses of Congress. However, the idea of "reconciliation" - that is, replacing each dollar of tax revenue lost with a new dollar of tax revenue from somewhere else - is important to keep in mind because if the plans are completely reconciled, then they don't need broad bi-partisan support to pass.

Affordability has been the watchword in the mortgage market for some time now, with many would-be buyers and current owners seeking new homes loans while rates remain below 4 percent. But it's beginning to look as though that level of affordability might not be around much longer, especially as mortgage rates continue to rise.

The expectation among many housing market experts for years was that when millennials wanted to stop renting and start owning homes, they would move from big cities to the suburbs like their parents did. However, that's not happening as expected, often because millennials tend to be either moving to smaller (but still good-sized) cities or away from urban centers, where properties are still quite inexpensive.

The housing market continues to shift under the weight of inventory constraints that drive home prices higher. This situation has created a more stagnant market than many experts might have expected at the start of the year and mostly impacted young people hoping to become first-time buyers while affordability remains high.

The housing sector has been in good shape for most of 2017 thanks to a combination of significant interest among would-be buyers coming into the market and low interest rates that keep refinancing affordable for the relatively small number of owners who had yet to cut their costs. And while rates are slated to rise - even before the end of the year - it seems that this won't dampen mortgage origination heading into 2018.

Over the past few months, home sales numbers have been on the decline, and experts have largely blamed the lack of available properties for sale - rather than declining demand - for the slow-down. This issue may be particularly problematic for younger first-time buyers, who tend to prefer smaller, lower-priced houses, and more is now being done to help ensure young adults can get into the market and find options they can afford.

One of the hottest metro housing markets in the country over the past several years has been in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. The tech boom there has created plenty of high-paying jobs, and demand for housing has increased significantly. In fact, most ZIP codes in the region have long since surpassed pre-recession norms for both demand and home prices.

Over the past few years, experts have continually pointed out that consumers might not realize just how good they have it in terms of mortgage affordability. Even as rates stayed above recent lows for most of 2017, they remained quite affordable with all-time and pre-recession norms, providing more affordability despite steady increases in home prices. However, it's also believed affordability may not last all that much longer.